'Halloween' Box Office Tracking for Franchise Record Opening
It should be a happy "Halloween" indeed for Jamie Lee Curtis and company.
Curtis is returning as Laurie Strode, 40 years after she survived a Halloween night attack by Michael Myers.
"Halloween," which is rated R, opens October 19. Early box office tracking is in, and it looks like the 2018 film should easily make more than $40 million, possibly even $50 million, at the domestic box office over that three-day weekend.
As Deadline noted, that would certainly be the best domestic debut of the "Halloween" franchise, beating the 2007 reboot's $26.3 million opening .
Box office tracking is often on the level of a Professor Trelawney prediction, but even she got one really good vision in. There's a strong chance the movie WILL open above $40 million, especially with good reviews so far, lots of publicity (Jamie Lee Curtis is even on the cover of EW this week), and a long wait between films to build anticipation.
Deadline shared a breakdown of the total box office grosses for the 10 films so far in the "Halloween" franchise (not adjusted for inflation):
• John Carpenter’s first "Halloween" starring Jamie Lee Curtis, ($47M without inflation)
• 1981’s "Halloween II" ($25.5M)
• 1982’s "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" ($14.4M)
• 1988’s "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" ($17.7M)
• 1989’s "Halloween 5" ($11.6M)
• 1995’s "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" ($15.1M)
• 1998’s "Halloween: H20" ($55M)
• 2002’s "Halloween: Resurrection" ($30.3M)
• 2007’s "Halloween" ($58.2M)
• 2009’s "Halloween II" ($33.3M)
"The Nun" just opened to more than $50 million, so the bar is pretty high for R-rated horror at the moment. As Deadline noted, the very top domestic opening for a horror film is "It" with $123.4 million. "Halloween" probably won't reach that height, but it should do very well.
"Halloween" opens in theaters October 19.
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